In the Eyes of a Non-believer
by ForeverPercabeth
Summary: A collection containing the things certain demigods don't believe in and why. Set after the Giant War.
1. Senior Year

**Hello fellow human beings of planet earth.**

**I know what you're thinking. Apparently, I have resurrected from the dead and am still writing. Right now, I'm just sorting through my ideas and trying to see what's fanfiction worthy. Also, this is just a side story but I'm sort of prioritizing the sequel to 'What?' since so many voted for it to be written.**

**Anyways, here you go. Hope you like it. Although I warn you. It's pretty depressing.**

**Disclaimer: PJO does not belong to me.**

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Senior year consists of two words that held the exact same meaning for Percy Jackson. For him, it's just life telling him that he was getting older and he had to move out of his house soon. He may be more than capable of living an independent life, considering how he _is _the son of Poseidon and have experienced many things most people can only imagine.

Plus, that was one of the reasons why his friends questioned him why he didn't believe in the idea of graduation and college preparation. Most demigods don't even live to his age so he should be grateful for surviving all of those wars and quests. Not to mention that he was part of the two great prophecies and had his life threatened more than he can count.

But that did very little to convince him of the truth.

He was well aware of the fact that high school is the best four years of a person's life. Senior year would just put an end to that and train its victims to be robotic people programmed to think of the future and only of the future. He knew his thoughts were pretty childish and that it shouldn't belong to an eighteen year old mind but he couldn't help himself. He had been through plenty of horrible, desperate situations and he deserves a childish thought every now and then.

It was rather depressing to think that just when he's getting parental freedom, he's being caged by so many responsibilities and expectations. Has he ever experienced real freedom? Was he merely a tool for the gods that will only have use when the world is being threatened by powerful forces?

And he's going to be alone soon. He's going to leave his mother's apartment and her protective embrace. He's going to pretend that he's an independent individual and that the real world doesn't scare him. Because he's Percy Jackson. He'll live through it.

Nevertheless, he hated seeing those kinds of people walking through the streets, all those mechanical people living mechanical lives: finish school, go to college, find a job, get married, have children. Those children will just continue that pathetically endless cycle that no one could possibly stop now. Even if someone did try to break it, or at least dent it, they'd just end up failing and wasting the time and energy they need to do something actually worthwhile. Why does fighting the status quo have to be so unusual for society? He had to ask Annabeth later.

He had no choice but to go with the flow and just appreciate the little moments he has as an actual human being, feeling real emotions and being with the people he cares about the most. What's the point in saving the world twice if life would just remain a robotic cycle of robotic people?

So he did try to welcome the worry, excitement, happiness, depression, and curiosity that came with human life. He tried not to think about growing up and taking on responsibilities that had nothing to do with being the leader of Grecian demigods. He's going to experiment with the many misconceptions of freedom there is and try to find his own definition of it. He's going to do stupid things and try to break the endless cycle many call life and just be _human _for once in his lifetime.

He's growing up too fast. When he was fourteen, he held the weight of the sky in his shoulders. At sixteen, he defeated the Titan lord Kronos. At eighteen, he went through hell and put Mother Earth back to sleep. Shouldn't senior year be easy for him to handle? When the others worry about what college they're going to or what career path their taking, he needed to think about humanity and how he was going to save it from destruction again. He had to worry about not dying for the millionth time and do his best so that his friends don't lose their lives as well.

So what if he was a little scared of growing up? Everyone was.

Sometimes, he would just wish that he lived in blissful ignorance. He wished that he was a normal teenage boy with normal parents and normal friends and worrying about normal problems. But that means not meeting Annabeth and she's his entire life.

He's going to suck it all up and lock it all in for her. He's going to ignore his fear of responsibility and sacrifice his freedom for her. The world deserves more Annabeths that it needs Percys. She's going to be building something permanent. He's going to keep on destroying things because that's what he does best. He already has a description of love. He's still working on the meaning of freedom.

And maybe freedom is like love. Maybe he feels free whenever he's with her. Maybe, even when he's locked up in jail or in a monster's dungeon, as long as he's with her he's still soaring like a bird.

Or maybe he shouldn't be thinking about all this depressing things as he wakes up in the morning beside the most beautiful girl in the world. He doesn't need to ponder on the meaning of existence because it doesn't really matter. He's growing up, so what? He's going to college soon, who cares? In reality, he's merely a speck of dust in the atmosphere. He saved the world but no one but the ones that matter really knew that.

He's going to make the most out of senior year. After all, as long as he's with Annabeth Chase, everything would be fine. She's going to have his back through everything and he's going to do the same.

They swore on the River Styx.

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**So, time for the serious part.**

**I'm suffering from identity theft. No, no one's pretending to be me or anything of that sort. I've heard that someone's been copying the storyline of 'What?' and I really want to point out to whoever did that to please stop and use your own ideas. I worked really hard to finish that story and I'm not going to accept that someone's going to take the easy way out.**

**But anyways, I hope you like this one and tell me if you want another chapter. I'm thinking of doing Annabeth and why she doesn't believe in the idea of achievements. If you have any ideas, please review:)**


	2. Politics

**To those who are waiting for the sequel to What?, I am humbly asking for your forgiveness seeing that I haven't updated at all yet. I'm not even going to make some random excuse anymore since that's not fair to any of you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HoO**

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Jason Grace was not a big fan of politics, or of political power.

He was Jupiter's son, a prince in his own right, but that didn't mean that he was in favor of being one of those people who control others as if they were puppets. Percy and Nico would question him why he showed absolutely no interest in running for Student Council president when he was more than capable of doing so. As revenge, Jason would ask the son of Poseidon why he wouldn't do the same.

In all honesty, he wasn't the only one who claimed that he was royalty. All the demigods are, in some ways, holding the same title as him. He wasn't the only one who was heir to the throne of something. His cousins were much more powerful than he will ever be and will surely rule their own kingdoms when they were ready (although that's certainly quite an impossible feet considering how immortality wasn't an option for any of them).

Sadly for him, he had no choice but to attend the council meetings with the other senior counselors. He knew how Percy hated to hold these kinds of things because he always had something better do these days so he wouldn't be too happy if Jason skipped out on his hell. If the son of Poseidon had to suffer, everyone had to suffer with him (but that doesn't apply to fighting stupid baddies who never learn their lesson, in which case Percy usually steps in front to shield the entire camp from the multiple painful blows).

Ever since the war with Gaea ended, the Romans and the Greeks came together as one. They kept the name Camp Half-Blood to be more neutral and the gods learned to balance their different personalities. This led to having a leader for both demigod groups, in which he was forced (by Reyna and Frank) to represent everything that was Roman and Percy had to do the same with his half.

Which sort of, kind of, made him a leader. How ironic.

But that wasn't the point. Jason had more than enough experience with leading a group of people. He had done so for most part of his life. The blood of his father _thrived_ in his veins and he was born to be the person everyone looked up to. So why was it that a seventeen year old boy knew better about handling unusual teenagers with strange powers than those lame politicians showing off in TV?

Hell, it wasn't even something to be proud of. He had lived a comfortable life in Camp Jupiter. He was well fed and had everything he could possibly need since he was a child and he never asked for anything more but that didn't mean that he was a stranger to corruption. He had been outside his haven enough times to see that not everyone in the states was living a life like he was. He figured that poverty wouldn't have been so rampant if the leaders did something about it.

But did they? He didn't think so.

If it wasn't bad enough, even the immortals practice injustice more times than he could count in their immortal lives. There were plenty of stories of heroes who were fucked up by random gods who were too selfish and self-centered. In fact, he was best friends with someone who had been the gods' pawn ever since he was born.

Percy Jackson.

He was surprised that his cousin had lived through all those years of 'do this' and 'do that' and 'get me one of my magical singers who just so happened to go haywire'. It was so unfair for him to suffer through all of those quests where he risked his life more times than Leo had been turned down by the female population (and that was saying a lot). And yet he was still more than willing to fight for Olympus and save the world.

It was obvious that everyone admired him for that. How could they not? He deserved to just curse at his godly aunts and uncles for using him as some maid but he didn't do that (not out loud, anyways). He remained obedient and claimed that he didn't do those things for Zeus but for himself and for the people he cared about.

So yeah, maybe leaders were unfair to their people and maybe the people were unfair to judge the leaders but the world might actually be fair if there were people like his almighty yet ever-so-humble cousin.

**Sorry if that didn't make any sense or if it veered off-topic a little. I'm going to use Jason's ADHD as an excuse for that so... yeah. Hope you like it anyways. Please review:)**


	3. Achievements

**I know it's a little short but I promise, this is the shortest chapter of this story. Hope you like it!:)**

**Disclaimer: PJO is not mine to claim**

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Achievement: (n) something that has been done or achieved through effort: a result of hard work. **(Source: Merriam-Webster dictionary)**

That was a word that Annabeth Chase does not believe in.

As a daughter of Athena, she has done plenty of things and rightfully earned her spot as her mother's favorite. But she doesn't particularly like labeling what she did as 'achievements.' She hated it when people ask her what her greatest achievements are because there isn't anything worth taking note of.

Somewhere out there, there's a one year old solving for the reason why 9.8 meters per second squared is gravity or a monkey surviving a trip to Neptune. She saved the world twice, so what? The only people who know about that are those involved in it. Mortals don't scream her name or ask for her autograph when she walks down the street. They prefer kissing the feet of those pop stars and actors who live fake lives and pretend that they're so damn important when they're not. What's the point of defeating the greatest villains if no one saw it happen?

But she honestly didn't care about them and what they think of her. They should just be grateful that she didn't sit back and watch as Gaea or Kronos killed each and every one of them. She's still being bullied in school for being academically proficient. They don't see that as an achievement so why should she? Her name wouldn't be written in History books because, technically, her kind doesn't really exist to humans.

That's what made it so annoying for her. Most mortal teenagers would believe _anything _written in books, even if it was fiction. There were some who waited for their "Prince Charming"s and "Happily Ever After"s and "Vampire boyfriend"s when they knew perfectly well that it wasn't that easy or possible. Oh, and did she mention the fact that fictional characters were praised more than she was? No? Well they were.

Her siblings would even ask her why she was feeling this way, especially when Hubris is her fatal flaw and she should be boasting to the world that she did this and she did that but no one would believe her if she told them that she's one of the seven who sung Mother Earth a lullaby and put her back to sleep. They wouldn't believe her if she told them that she went through Tartarus and survived partly sane. Hell, they barely even believed her when she told them that Percy Jackson was her boyfriend for more than two years now. He, after all, was the closest thing they would ever see to a Greek god and the idea of him and her being together was quite humorous to the ones striving to have his heart.

So if they ask what her greatest achievement was, it wouldn't be her multiple medals and honor streaks, nor would it be her architectural prowess and mathematical genius. She would tell them that it was having Percy Jackson love her deeply and passionately and she had absolutely no idea why but he did.

She would go through all the mocking and teasing and the 'You're not good enough' only to end up in the same place she does every night after Gaea: in his bed. He'd greet her and tell her that he loved her and she'd do the same and they'd just be together through the horrible, vivid nightmares.

That, after all, is what they do best.

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**Review pleasee!**


	4. Perfection

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus.**

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Perfection, specifically physical perfection, disgusts Piper McLean immensely.

It was rather unusual for a daughter of love and beauty care more about the 'love' part than the 'beauty' part. She hated it when her sisters would stare at a shirtless photo of some guy and already called them perfect when he surely wasn't. She would scrunch her nose when she sees Drew and her posse hogging the mirror and covering their faces with boatloads of make-up because they said that it made them look perfect.

What is it about being the best looking that attracts their attention?

She had seen how the decent men reacted when those barely clothed sluts push themselves against them. She's usually close-by when one of her sisters would flirt with Percy Jackson only to have him walk away from her as if the encounter never happened. It made her smile because that man knew that how a person looks never really mattered. Annabeth Chase was never seen with make-up on yet she was single-handedly the closest thing a woman is to being physically perfect.

Piper also hates it when others stereotype her cabin as the 'vain' ones and the 'stupid' ones. Just because her siblings care more about how they look doesn't mean they're heads are empty. She had heard stories about Silena Beauregard being the best counselor cabin ten has ever had and she represented the two things Aphrodite was. Surely anyone who loved enough to become Clarisse La Rue's best friend should be accredited.

The worst thing about it is that no one was truly perfect. What might be perfect for one person may not be for the other. In fact, as she was revisiting her Greek myths, she happened to stumble on the story of Pygmalion and Galatea. The poor bastard had been so obsessed with the idea of perfection that he worked day and night trying to make his statue every man would die for. Unfortunately, no one really knew if Galatea had been, what you call, "perfect". She might have been beautiful, yes, but that didn't mean that she didn't have any visible (or invisible) flaws.

Hell, the sight of those gorgeous actors flaunting their so-called perfection to the cameras would make any girl fall to their knees, and yet there were some who would say "Oh, he's alright-looking" or "Yeah, he's handsome but he's not my type." Even Percy Jackson couldn't captivate the hearts of every woman out there. Piper still finds him less attractive than Jason.

The truth was, no matter how confident a person seemed to be on the outside, he or she still has insecurities chained to their hearts. _What if my crush doesn't like me back? _Or _What if my voice isn't good enough to get me in the choir? _Or _What if people will notice how fat my thighs are? _All those what if's have already ruined lives, some of the weaker souls resulted to killing themselves out of depression.

Media sets impossible standards of beauty nowadays. Almost all women strive to have that Victoria's Secret Model body and a hauntingly thin figure that resulted to days without eating. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia were the effects of perfection and striving for it. Whatever happened to that kind of life where you dictate what's going to happen to you and not what other people think? You don't have to be a walking skeleton to be beautiful.

To Piper, she didn't care whether or not her style was rather tomboyish or that her hair doesn't always stay in place. She didn't care if her skin was not white as snow or if her cheeks were still somewhat chubby. She didn't care if there were scars in every inch of her body or that there was a slight limp on her step due to an injury she obtained during the war. She had a boyfriend who loved her for who she was, not because her stomach was flat due to the years of training or that her face was flawless due to her heritage. One day, when they were both old and gray and her skin would be wrinkled and sagging, he would still call her the most beautiful woman alive.

Because beauty isn't all about looks. Perfection does not exist. In the end, your physical appearance will not matter.

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**Hope you like it. Please review!**


	5. Wealth

**Hey guys! Sorry if this chapter took so long to make but it was really difficult for me to look for the proper inspiration to make this interesting.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or HOO**

Wealth was practically useless to Hazel Levesque.

It was rather ironic, especially on her part, seeing that she _was_ the only living daughter of the Roman god of wealth and precious stones. Her ability to summon diamonds and rubies at will gives her the opportunity to be one of the ten richest people in the world. Unfortunately, that would not be possible considering how said gemstones were cursed and she cannot do anything to change it.

Nonetheless, that doesn't stop her from longing for a better life, a decent life outside of Camp.

She learned in her many years of living that human nature dictates that mortals should want something that they don't have. It's that sense of greed and jealousy that produced the many corrupted leaders of different countries. She wanted to have a large-enough apartment in New York City, yes, but she also didn't want to hoard all of her riches to herself.

In all honesty, she doesn't believe in the idea of money buying true, everlasting happiness because it really doesn't. Sure it could give you a nice house or an iPhone 6 or whatever but it wouldn't give you the same feeling of contentment and fulfillment as giving something away does. She learned the hard way that wanting everything would eventually lead you to your downfall. Most of her enemies had that as a flaw and she didn't want to end up the same way they did.

Hazel could honestly state a million instances where material possession and earthly goods are deemed useless and it still wouldn't be enough to prove her point. The gods set an example for their children to _not _follow. They are greedy, jealous, amoral immortals and she was glad that she has a 'point of reference' somehow.

Demigods of all shapes and sizes wouldn't be seen scouring around the world looking for gold and treasure. They knew perfectly well that they have to worry about living the next day first before they start thinking about _how _they were going to live. Plus, Camp Half-Blood has provided them with so much and would be staying for as long as eternity. It was only the more ambitious half-bloods who decided to take the risks of stepping into the outside world.

Nonetheless, this still didn't mean that they prioritized earning money. Why was currency invented in the first place? Why can't the people of the olden times just give away what they have and receive if they were given back? If money didn't exist, we would be living in a perfect, just society where there would be no poverty or world hunger. Everyone will be equal in everyone's eyes. There would be no rich, there would be no poor. There would be no greed or envy because everyone would be so generous.

But that was her perspective, her way of thinking. She had been so used to the life in Camp that she refused to believe how hard it was to live outside. She didn't know how Percy Jackson could go home every after summer and pass by all of those people begging in the sidewalk. He was one of Hazel's heroes and she was surprised that his apartment wasn't filled with the poor because he was such a good person that he'd actually give homeless people homes.

As centurion, her one wish was to actually provide a permanent, and yet simple, solution to the long-living problem. Just because she is a leader of a cohort doesn't mean she could actually convince enough people to join her in her cause. There were too many organizations existing in the world fighting the same cause she is currently so passionate about. What's the point of surviving a war if the world she had just saved wouldn't change for the better? It frustrated her how she couldn't just throw around all of the precious gemstones materializing at her feet. The situation of the poor was bad enough already and she didn't want to worsen it in any way.

But she will find a way. One day, poverty will not exist. There will be no greed. There will be no corruption. One day, it will happen and she prayed to the gods that she will still be alive when it does.

**Please review! The feedback means a lot to me.**


	6. Pain

Nico did not like getting hurt.

Unlike what other people think, he was not a masochist nor was he 'emo'. In fact, he will never purposely cut himself just to cause him as much physical pain as possible. His entire life revolved around other creatures (whether it'd be gods, monsters, or other demigods) doing all of that for him. He was sure that if he ever intentionally slices his skin, his body would just give in before he even felt the pain.

It was a known fact that he had suffered plenty in his lifetime. He lost count of how many scars now covered his body, not to mention how many tears he had shed when he felt the horrible stabbing pain of losing a loved one. Jason had once convinced him that he would get past it eventually and yet, this was said an entire year ago. He knew that change will not just happen overnight. He just prayed that it would hurry the fuck up before he loses his mind.

He didn't want to be the subject of self-pity, though. It wasn't only him who had seen good, innocent people die in front of him. This was part of demigod duty. His kind was used to all of the destruction and loss that came with their existence. Honestly, he wasn't even expecting to live long enough to see his eighteenth birthday seeing how eager the ghosts want to get hold of him. He had a lot of close calls in his lifetime, most of which he fully intended upon himself.

And yet, nothing could be compared to the pain of knowing that the one family he had left was now gone forever.

Bianca's death changed Nico for the worse, especially when he found out that Percy Jackson, the one man he admired and loved for a certain period of time, was partly responsible for it. He was aware how hard Percy tried to keep her safe, to keep her alive, but Bianca had always been so stubborn that Nico used to tease her about how that certain trait was going to be the death of her someday. He hated how right he was.

Despite the long, emotionally jarring conversation he had with his lost sister, he couldn't completely let go of her. He should have been the least bit prepared to see her leave him eventually. What with the fifty or so years they spent together in that casino, she will surely get a little tired of seeing his face every day. Was that the reason why she joined the hunters?

The Fates were cruel. Everyone knew that. If it wasn't enough already that they took away his sister, of all people, they managed to pair his one love to a much more beautiful woman. Yes, he loved Percy Jackson. He's torn himself apart trying to sort through the emotions he felt towards the young son of Poseidon. Even after Bianca's death, he couldn't possibly hate the man. He hated himself, surely, but never him. He tried to, though, so hard. He tried to force every single negative experience he had with him and yet the chivalry, the bravery, the heroism, always pushes through and takes Nico's breath away.

That, he realized, is the worst kind of pain.

And now, now that he claims that he's moved on from Percy Jackson. Now that he claims that he's falling for Will Solace, he noticed how completely irrational his paranoia was. He knew from the start that Percy won't be his. Annabeth's hold on him is too strong. He knew that, if he kept pining for a man who belonged to someone else, he would only end up getting hurt millions of times over. He moved on, he said. He got over him.

So yes, Nico Di Angelo has gone through enough pain in his 15 year old life. And yet, being a demigod made him see the things a single person can do to change his perspective on life. He loved Percy once. He'll feel the pain of being rejected forever. He still owes his life to him and that will not help alleviate the pain whatsoever. He's stronger now, though. He's not anymore the naïve ten year old boy playing with Mythomagic action figures. He knows how to deal with heartache and deep scars. He knows how to heal from being stabbed in the back or recover from being overtaken by shadows. He hated being a demigod and yet, he's never been more grateful that he was.

**Please review and tell me who to do next. Thanks for reading!**


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